


Thunderstorms

by ms_moyashi



Category: D Gray Man
Genre: Gen, so im changing that, there aren't enough fics of kanda and lenalee, they're cute little kids like who wouldn't want that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 17:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2741168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ms_moyashi/pseuds/ms_moyashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thunderstorms are a great time to talk about troubled pasts and secrets (or Lenali and Kanda are childhood friends and sometimes these private secrets just spill out).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderstorms

**Author's Note:**

> First fic posted on here, will probably turn into a mini series about the childhoods of the dgm characters (so there's more to come that include Allen and Lavi <3)

Lighting flickered across the cloudy sky, the wind howling only to be interrupted by booms of thunder. The rain came down heavy and thick, splattering against the headquarters windows and dripping through the cracks in the old stone. Storms like these were not uncommon in London, but to eight year old Lenali they were absolutely terrifying. She had been at the order by herself for the past two years, and only recently she had been joined by a boy named Kanda from the Asia branch. Although being two years older than her, Lenali was ecstatic to have another child exorcist living in the order with her (it took a while to break Kanda’s boundaries, but Lenali was nothing but persistent). He had even started to teach her how to meditate, and in Lenali’s mind this was great improvement towards their friendship.

But there were some things that she just simply couldn’t tell him, like what she did all day and why she came back bruised and her legs swollen. She knew that he noticed, Kanda wasn’t an idiot, but she was thankful that he never brought it up. He just did his own little things to help. About a week ago after an extremely hard day of fusing with Innocence he had insisted getting her food for dinner, pointedly saying that it made sense for only one of them to get up and get it. Lenali noticed his scars too, even if they were faded and were more mental than physical. For instance, if the Asian Branch was even mentioned he would get a suddenly blank look on his face, and would slightly tense, or if anything to do with the crows would come up he would make an excuse to get away and then train for hours.

Lightning flashed and thunder clashed from outside Lenali’s window, making the eight year old whimper and hide under the sheets. She silently scolded herself for being afraid of the weather, but even so she wished immensely that her older brother Koumi was there to comfort her. She could see it clearly, her brother crashing in her room with a loud voice and saying in a silly voice, “ _Don’t worry Lenali, I will defeat this storm_!” Thinking about Koumi made Lenali feel ten times worse, and she bit her lip hard when thunder rumbled through the stone castle. Suddenly, a thought came to the young girl.

Surely _Kanda_ hated storms as much as she did, right?

With that thought in mind, and her reasons completely valid (‘I’m doing this because Kanda is probably _terrified_ right now’) she slipped from the white cotton sheets and let her small feet slip to the floor, quickly padding across the cold floor and heaving open the wooden door. It was dark and the only thing that lit her way was the dim lanterns, but Lenali forcefully told herself to be brave for her friend’s sake.

Kanda’s room was four levels below her facing north, and thankfully Lenali remembered how to get there. She had helped him move in; even though he had little belongings, and even helped him decorate a little (she had learned that he liked lotus blooms and daisies, which Lenali found to be very sweet). Finally she reached his room after descending the elevator, and with a shaky sigh she weakly knocked on the door, and then forcefully another two times.

The door eased open, and for a second Kanda looked around blearily before looking down and finally noticing Lenali. One of his eyebrows raised, but he pushed the door open farther anyway, padding back into his room and clambering back onto his bed. A loud rumble was all the incentive Lenali needed to quickly follow him, shutting the door and jumping onto the mattress after him.

“I came to protect you from the thunderstorm.” She declared, sitting criss cross and looking very serious. Kanda just looked at her and sighed, still a bit out of it from being awakened by a small Chinese girl in the middle of the night.

“Are you afraid of them?” He finally said, ignoring her statement and sitting across from her. The flash of lightning and her diving under the covers was all the answer he needed as he impatiently waited for her to resurface.

“When I lived with my brother Koumi I wasn’t afraid. But at the order… the storms seem a lot worse here.” Lenali admitted, twirling her long black hair around her finger. She popped back up from under the covers and looked at Kanda unabashedly, waiting for his reaction. Kanda debated asking her what happened to her brother, and before he could stop himself he blurted out,

“Where is your brother now?” He ground his teeth shut and looked to the side, wishing he hadn’t asked that. He looked back to Lenali and his chest constricted when he saw her sad expression, inwardly dying.

“We used to live in China.” Lenali answered softly, looking down at her hands. “But after our parents were killed by akuma, the order came for me… and I’ve been here alone for two years.” She looked close to crying, and awkwardly Kanda wondered what he would do if she did. He wasn’t exactly the comforting type.  
“Lenali,” Kanda began, and finally asked her what he had wanted to know for a while, “what do you do with the scientists all day? Why do you come back with your legs all messed up?”

For a moment it was silent, the rain beating against the window in sheets and slow rumbles filling the air. Lenali looked up and with a broken smile, told him her secret.  
“They experiment on me. Every day they force me to try to connect with the Innocence, that’s why my legs are so bruised. I’m sorry I made you worry, Kanda.”

Kanda fell deathly silent, his face going blank as he clearly struggled inwardly. Lenali waited for him patiently for him to process this information, meanwhile wondering if Kanda would think she was a freak. She didn’t think he would, but a little bit of her wondered what she would do if he stopped being friends with her.  
She turned a little bit pale, thinking about being all alone once again in this huge castle. She would suddenly have to be completely alone again, and that thought was almost too much to bear for eight year old Lenali.

“Please don’t think I’m a freak.” She begged him when he had still not answered, and surprise flitted across the other’s face.

“That would be hardly fair of me,” a small grin crossed his face, “seeing that I’m no different.”

Lenali almost asked him what he meant, but the look on his face stopped her. She had never seen him look so… defeated. It was strange to see Kanda show that much emotion other than anger and sarcasm, and for once Lenali didn’t know what to say. She could ask him what had happened in the Asia branch, how he became an exorcist, but truthfully, she was scared to find out.

“Do you miss him?” Kanda asked quietly, and Lenali was brought back to the present.

“My brother? Of course I do. I miss him more than anyone in the whole world.” She answered, even though it hurt to say out loud. She would give anything to see her older brother again, and she had already tried to run away more than once to get back to him.

“I know how you feel.” Kanda’s voice changed, and with a start she realized that the older boy was choking up. She wondered what to do, but decided to do what seemed right at the moment. She plopped down on the bed, her head on the pillow, and pulled Kanda down with her so that their faces were only inches away from each other.

“You can tell me who it is. I won’t tell.” She promised, hooking their pinkies together. “That way the order can’t touch them.”

“It’s too late for that.” Kanda said shakily with a rueful smile. “He’s dead and never coming back because of them.”

Lenali felt her heart ache for him, but allowed him to take a moment before continuing.

“His name was Alma. We were… we were experimented on too. Every day we would try to connect to the Innocence and undergo these… tests.” Kanda didn’t elaborate on the test, and Lenali didn’t ask. “I miss him a _lot_ , Lenali.” At this, his voice finally cracked and a few tears fell. “I really really miss him, and it’s _all my fault_.”

Neither of them spoke after that, both of them dissolving into tears and for once, allowed themselves to be children. They stayed like that until morning, Lenali curled up around Kanda and the two of them clinging to each other, refusing to let each other go. Because both of them had finally found another person that they would never ever, let go of.


End file.
